Almost a year out too soon to book?

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zetharion

Service Attendant
AU Supporting Member
Joined
May 15, 2022
Messages
172
Location
Dallas
I plan to visit DC April of next year. My head physically cant handle flying at all so im looking into Amtrak for my first time ever. How often do the fares change? Is it unwise to plan that far in advance? If I book it now it would be $1338 for roomette's roundtrip on the Texas Eagle and Cardinal trains.

Side question, are the showers realistic for someone thats currently 6'2" and 300lbs? Will someone my size even fit in a roomette?
 
Booking early generally will give you the cheapest fares. Amtrak prices fares by buckets; the more booked the train becomes, the higher the fare bucket. Booking early will usually ensure that you will get the best fare; fares usually go up as more passengers book.

As for roomettes, I am slightly shorter than you (5’ 11”) and about the same weight. It is not particularly roomy, but you should be okay in the roomette. Showers likewise are a bit tight, but doable.
 
Booking 11 months out no longer guarantees lower buckets. That is an old strategy that often no longer applies. Amtrak has gotten more sophisticated in their yield management and often no longer assigns any inventory at all in lower buckets initially at 11 months out. Instead many times initial inventory allocation is only high bucket. They appear to start evaluating sales and possibly reallocating inventory to lower buckets based on sales starting about 6 or 7 months out.

Look at @niemi24s chart and see about what bucket it is in. If it is in a lower bucket grab it, if high bucket hang tight and keep checking. occasionally until 7 months or so before departure, then start checking frequently.

1338 from somewhere SAS or east on the Eagle to WAS sounds like a higher bucket to me. If it is, you have nothing to lose by waiting. But bear in mind the Eagle has very limited capacity, only probably at most only 10 or 11 revenue roomettes available, since the SCA, the LSA, and the coach attendants also have to have space, so it may never get any inventory allocated to lower buckets.
 
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Thanks for the correction. I guess I just assumed that lower buckets were in effect when there were few bookings. We all know what happens when we assume…
 
Its from Dallas to DC. Ive seen the chart now and are the prices one way or round trip? Amtrak is showing 669 each way for me. Since the charts are by train and each direction is two trains for me do I divide the price by two to compare?
 
If I am comprehending the charts correctly, they are giving the possible fare buckets for each available accommodation C=coach, R=roomette etc., and the fares given would be for an end to end trip on that train. So for the TE, the given fare would be San Antonio to Chicago, and for the Cardinal it would be Chicago to NYP,

If that is the case, then go get a fare from SAS to NYP you’d add the fares for the TE and Card. Your trip is shorter on both trains, so you’d expect a lower fare than this. If I am comprehending correctly, your fare is pretty much low bucket, so you probably want to jump on it.
 
zetharion said:
Its from Dallas to DC. Ive seen the chart now and are the prices one way or round trip? Amtrak is showing 669 each way for me. Since the charts are by train and each direction is two trains for me do I divide the price by two to compare?
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The chart is one way and based on endpoints of the train. The sleeper fare assume one person occupancy. Look at what the Eagle is on your date to LAX-CHI and find the bucket for it on the chart, that will probably tell you the bucket, assuming your DAL-CHI price is a reasonable percent of it, like around 30-50%. Also, to use the chart it is also good to price out segments individually, as there is often a price break on the rail portion of the fare. Rail fare is not variable for sleepers, but accommodation charge is and accommodation charge is the bulk of the price.

But 669 DAL-WAS doesn't sound terrible off the top of my head for a roomette.
 
zephyr17 said:
The chart is one way and based on endpoints of the train. The sleeper fare assume one person occupancy. Look at what the Eagle is on your date to LAX-CHI and find the bucket for it on the chart, that will probably tell you the bucket, assuming your DAL-CHI price is a reasonable percent of it, like around 30-50%. Also, to use the chart it is also good to price out segments individually, as there is often a price break on the rail portion of the fare. Rail fare is not variable for sleepers, but accommodation charge is and accommodation charge is the bulk of the price.

But 669 DAL-WAS doesn't sound terrible off the top of my head for a roomette.
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Thank you for the info. Went ahead and booked it since I do have 121 days out for full refund.
 
zephyr17 said:
CHI-WAS is easiest to check since that segment of your trip is endpoint to endpoint. Low bucket roomette is 345, high is 643.

Based on that, I would say your trip as whole at 669 one way is low bucket. Grab it.
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Oh the receipt they give breaks it down by segment. 324 Dallas to Chicago, the segment you chose was spot on at 345, and the same prices on the trip back.
 
All of the charts in this thread... Long Distance Train Coach & Sleeper Fares (Buckets) ...are for one way for one adult for the entire length. On the charts with five sleeper fares, the entire length for the TE is CHI - LAX. There are a couple of charts that show the two lowest fares for some partial routes. FWIW, a fare to the midpoint of a route will be greater than half the fare for the entire route by perhaps 15% to 50% - at least that's what I found back in 2020 when this was made:

Fare Bumpsa.jpg

If you must take the train on a specific date, the fare is one of the higher buckets and there's a possibility your desired sleeper may be sold out if you wait you can book the higher fare just to make sure you get what you want. Later, if the fare drops, call an agent (an AGR agent is best) and ask them to modify your reservation to the lower fare.
 
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